In fact, if Fan Mingzhu were to reach the Nascent Soul stage, Fan Hongde would definitely prepare a Breakthrough Pill for her. However, Fan Mingzhu, who had already cultivated demonic arts, felt that it would be best to prepare three Breakthrough Pills at once when the day of Nascent Soul formation arrived, so that she would feel more secure.
Three people had already bid, and Fan Mingzhu thought that bidding at this point wouldn't attract attention, so she followed suit and called out, "1,500."
Before she could finish speaking, Shi Xuan immediately replied, "Sixteen thousand."
She did it on purpose! Fan Mingzhu's auction had Shi Xuan so angry her eyes were practically spitting fire. She was deliberately targeting her!
Sure enough, after Shi Xuan made his bid, another person offered, "Seventeen thousand."
Shi Xuan stopped bidding and just ate her spiritual fruit while watching the excitement.
Fan Mingzhu was secretly furious. How come she hadn't choked to death on this spiritual fruit?!
She has less than two thousand high-grade spirit stones left, and now she only has one last chance.
Fan Mingzhu took a deep breath and, making a desperate gamble, said, "One thousand nine!" This was the highest price she could offer.
"Two thousand." Shi Xuan followed smoothly, as if he didn't need to think at all about the two thousand high-grade spirit stones.
By this time, the value of the Breakthrough Pill had exceeded its usual price; according to the usual selling price, two thousand was already the maximum.
After a few moments of silence, someone in a private box offered a new price: two thousand two.
Shi Xuan acted as if she hadn't heard anyone overtake her, and had no intention of raising the price at all.
She only raises the price when Fan Mingzhu makes a bid! But what happened with that alchemy furnace just now? Why didn't she continue raising the price?
Fan Mingzhu couldn't understand it; she was just furious.
If Shi Xuan knew her thoughts, he would definitely help her understand. First, she had the Heavenly Origin but couldn't use it; second, as the daughter of the Divine Cauldron Sect's sect leader, how could Fan Mingzhu not have a good alchemy furnace? The alchemy furnace she brought out for the Six Sects Alchemy Competition was better than this one.
Shi Xuan was just putting on an act, pretending to be nervous to lure Fan Mingzhu into her trap. Her little schemes were easy to guess.
If Fan Mingzhu had more money, she would definitely have raised the price. She wouldn't have cared about spending a few hundred more high-grade spirit stones. But at this moment, she had no more bargaining chips. All her spirit stones combined were less than two thousand, so she had no choice but to give up the auction.
Ultimately, the Breakthrough Pill was won by a guest in the private room, and Shi Xuan showed no sign of regret. It seems that the Breakthrough Pill was indeed not on her auction list, and her bidding was probably just to provoke Fan Mingzhu.
Fan Mingzhu was indeed angry, very angry. The auction was nearing its end, but she had gained nothing. She had given up the Ice Soul Sword because she wanted a Nascent Soul stage slave and a Breakthrough Pill, but in the end, she hadn't won either the slave or the Breakthrough Pill—a complete failure!
No, not only did she return empty-handed, she also spent nearly a thousand spirit stones to pay for the failed auction!
How could I not be angry!
After the auction of the Breakthrough Pill, the master of ceremonies brought out a set of Qin wooden boxes, which consisted of eight boxes stacked together.
"This is a set of sixth-tier spiritual herbs, not sold individually. Among the eight types are Mo Chen, Green Hidden Grass, and Flowing Fire Grass..."
Shi Xuan immediately perked up. Green Hidden? This was the last main ingredient in his senior brother's Rejuvenation Pill. He could do without everything else, but he absolutely had to get his hands on Green Hidden.
At this moment, Shi Xuan sat upright, looking eager to try. Fan Mingzhu saw this and secretly resented her. Pretending! She's just pretending! Even the Breakthrough Pill didn't have any effect, so how could a few sixth-grade spiritual herbs make her like this? She must still be trying to trick her into bidding high prices for these herbs!
The starting bid for a set of sixth-grade spiritual herbs was three hundred high-grade spirit stones. As expected, Shi Xuan was the first to make a bid when the auction began.
"Six hundred!" She doubled it immediately.
Although Green Hidden is rare, Shi Xuan has not seen it used in any other pill formulas besides the Rejuvenation Pill. The other ingredients are also not particularly rare, so the starting price is not high.
After Shi Xuan finished bidding, no one spoke for a long time in the entire auction hall. There were already few alchemists, and even fewer who could use these few spiritual herbs. In the end, those who remained felt that it was unnecessary to spend several hundred spirit stones to buy these few herbs.
No one raised the price.
Fan Mingzhu glanced at Shi Xuan, who remained focused and looked quite intimidating. She wasn't going to fall for it; trying to trick her into bidding? No way!
Shi Xuan remained engrossed until Manager Qin's hammer fell.
Fan Mingzhu couldn't tell which of her faces was real and which was acting, so she simply stopped looking at her. Now, she felt uncomfortable all over whenever she saw Shi Xuan, as if she had swallowed a fly.
Shi Xuan had already communicated with Lu Shenzhi through his divine sense: "Senior Brother, I told you you are a lucky person. Look, the rare and precious Green Hidden has been delivered to you. You are one step closer to your resurrection."
“What resurrection?” Lu Shenzhi retorted, “The person isn’t dead yet, that’s called awakening.”
Shi Xuan snorted: "Don't worry about those details."
"You can refine the Resurrection Pill now?" Lu Shenzhi said, clearly very happy.
"The Soul-Returning Pill is a seventh-grade pill. I can refine it now if I put in more effort, but there's no rush. It will be easier to refine it if I increase my cultivation level. Besides, I still need several Soul-Gathering Stones. It's okay to wait a little longer."
None of the subsequent items interested Shi Xuan, so Fan Mingzhu angrily left the room. She couldn't buy anything good with her spirit stones anymore, not to mention Shi Xuan was causing trouble.
But she didn't go far; she stayed not far from the auction house, watching its exit.
Shi Xuan sat in the auction house until the very end, and also picked out a few rare items and spiritual herbs to bid on.
After the auction ended, the staff brought out the auctioned items one by one. Shi Xuan's case was a bit more complicated because she had bid on a live person; she went to the auction house's reception room with the manager.
Manager Qin greeted them with a smile, saying as they walked, "It's kind of you to make this trip in person, but as for this slave, do you want to take him with you directly, or would you like our auction house to send him to you?"
The shopkeeper's question was very skillful. No one would brazenly carry a large cage containing a person back home unless they possessed a spatial artifact capable of holding living beings. His question implied, "Do you have a spatial artifact capable of holding living beings?"
Shi Xuan glanced at the large cage in the room. The slave was curled up motionless inside the cage, and he didn't even look up when the buyer entered.
She nodded and said, "I'll take it with me."
The shopkeeper couldn't hide his surprise; a space capable of holding living beings was extremely rare. Only powerful figures could possess such a thing. He hadn't expected this young female cultivator to already have such a magical artifact.
In front of the shopkeeper, Shi Xuan took the slave into Yinshuang's possession, along with the other items he had acquired.
By the time Shi Xuan finished all the formalities and left the auction house, it was already dark. Few shops in the market were still open at night; only places for dining and entertainment remained lit.
The streets were silent, the occasional voices sounding distant. Shi Xuan turned to Lu Wenxing beside him and said, "Second Senior Brother, don't you feel like something's wrong?"
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